The present invention relates to an alimentary product, particularly a pasta product, which includes a filling, and more particularly to a lasagne product, which is prepared and provided for cooking for preparation of a meal.
Conventionally, lasagne are made from sheets of pasta which, cooked or un-cooked, raw or dehydrated, are layered with sauce between the layers, arranged in a baking tray. Depending on the size of the tray, each pasta layer may be constituted of one or more sheets of pasta abutting or slightly overlapping. Normally, the sauce is tomato, bechamel or cheese sauce, meat and tomato sauce or a combination thereof. The layered product is then baked in an oven.
Frozen lasagne are available as a ready meal. Such products are prepared in the tray in a conventional oven or by microwave heating in a microwave oven.
A continuous lasagne production process is disclosed in our European patent EP 0 643 915 B1. In this process, strands of pasta are continuously extruded and layered with sauce so as to form lasagne. The continuous strands of lasagne are subsequently cut into lasagne of suitable size. The lasagne may be inserted into trays which provide support for storage, freezing and re-heating or baking etc. Alternatively, the lasagne may be individually frozen and then packed.
In general, when a lasagne is made by layering pasta and sauce or other filling in a tray, the sauce or other filling constitutes the bottom layer of the lasagne. In the continuous production of lasagne the bottom layer of the lasagne is a pasta sheet. For certain cooking or heating methods this may be undesirable as the pasta may tend to adhere to the tray or surface on which it is heated or baked. Furthermore, cooking or heating of said bottom pasta sheet will differ from the heating or cooking of pasta sheets abutting sauce or other filling giving a harder texture of the bottom pasta sheet.